Wordless Wednesday

Meet Featured Artisan Eva of BoutiqueLinnea

I'm Eva, the creative force behind Linnea. Boutique Linnea is upscale Euro style kids' clothing, Linnea Design is clothing for women designed to be sexy, stylish and comfortable, Linnea After Dark is lingerie and sleepwear, Linnea Grrrlz is for tween fashionistas and the newest addition Linnea Bare is artisan soap and skincare. On Etsy, it all operates under BoutiqueLinnea where you can expect to see a variety of items from all my collections. I have a background in design and marketing, and have always been creative and had a need to express myself through art in various forms.

My passion is to dress women in clothes that make them feel not only good but great about themselves. Everyone deserves to feel sexy and stylish, and it should be really simple to treat yourself. Of course kids should be able to dress in custom made clothing meant for play while still looking good too! I truly believe in treating yourself and your family to what "luxuries" you can, and think handmade, custom items are wonderful for that.

As long as I can remember, I have been slightly obsessed with scent and body care luxuries so when I first encountered artisan soap it was a natural step for me to get interested in the process and learn how to do it myself. I did lots of research and before long I was completely hooked. Soap making is a wonderful craft and very calming to me. I truly enjoy coming up with various recipes and planning the feel, look and of course scent of each soap I make. My focus as a soaper is on smell, feel and aesthetics, in that order. My goal is to make each bar a decadent treat. To me, it's similar to clothing design, the same energy and creativity goes into it and by tweaking little details you end up with totally different results. The idea behind it is the same as well, it's a way to spoil yourself just a little. Whether it's a custom made garment or a luxurious hand made soap, it brings you joy every day you use it.

Being a WAHM can be difficult. It's hard for me to balance it with being a Mom and a wife and woman as well. I have great care for my customers, but truthfully my family does and always will come first. That means that I try to get some work done every day, but some days are better than others. I feel fulfilled and blessed when I'm able to do it all, but most of the time it isn't as balanced and harmonious as I would like it to be and it's a struggle to perfect that balance without having anything suffer. I'm a firm believer in needing time for oneself to re-center, and I do make sure I take that time for myself... in the end, it's the absolute best thing for everyone. My downtime is often spent with books, and I get lots of inspiration from the beauty of literature, dance and other art around me.

Giveaway Information: For this feature, I have chosen to do a surprise soap sampler giveaway to celebrate the opening of Linnea Bare. I will select a few full sized bars for the winner, in various scents and formulas. 

To enter: 

* Visit BoutiqueLinnea and leave a blog comment telling us your favorite item

Additional entries: 

* Fan BoutiqueLinnea on Facebook and leave a comment telling us you did

* Fan the Etsy Hyena Street Team on Facebook and leave a comment telling us you did 

* Tweet, blog, or post on Facebook about the giveaway and leave us a link

Make sure we have a way to reach you if you are the winner.  Winner will be chosen using random.org on Monday, November 22nd!

A winner has been chosen via random.org... congrats comment #14 (kkfoster35) on winning the BoutiqueLinnea giveaway!

Thursday Things... disguised as Wordless Wednesday :)

submitted by alfabette zoope

Tutorial Tuesday: Rustic Herbed Cheese Bread

It's no secret that I love bread. Love it. There are a lot of bread recipes on here if you go through the archives. And most of them start with the same recipe/method, the no-knead method. This bread is no exception, but the taste is absolutely exceptional! This is a great dinner bread, but I recently served it hollowed out with an herbed sour cream dip as an appetizer and it was phenomenal!

Rustic Herbed Cheese Bread

Ingredients:
3 cups flour
1 5/8 cups water
1 1/2 tablespoons oil
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon yeast
Garlic powder
Sesame seeds
Onion powder
4 ounces sharpest provolone, shredded
Corn meal and additional flour for dusting/shaping


Mix all ingredients but cheese in a large bowl, just until combined. I didn't add the measurements for the spices because I don't measure. I like my breads strongly spiced, so I used approximately half of a small container of sesame seeds, and generous amounts (1 1/2 - 2 1/2 T) of garlic and onion powder.

There is no need to knead or over mix this dough. Simply combine the ingredients and that's it. Cover the bowl (this dough will double in size so make sure your bowl is big enough) and let sit overnight. I let mine sit for at least 12 hours, but have let it sit for 48 hours and the bread still comes out amazing.

After it has sat, place a dishtowel or paper towels in a warm place (I put mine on the stovetop with the oven on) and sprinkle generously with cornmeal. Using only enough flour so that the dough doesn't stick to your hands, ball the dough and place it on the prepared towels. Dust with more cornmeal or flour and cover with another cloth/paper towel. Let rise 1 - 3 more hours, until doubled again in size.

For the last half an hour, place a baking dish (it needs to have a cover) in the oven at 450 degrees to heat up. Turn dough out into the preheated baking dish, cover and bake for approximately 25 - 30 minutes. Remove cover and bake another 15 - 20 minutes until the bread is browned and sounds hollowed when you thump it.


Herbed Sour Cream Dip

Into 16 ounces of sour cream, mix 2T Healing Pixie's bread and cheese herb mix, 1T garlic powder, 1T onion powder and 1T garlic salt. Chill for at least an hour to allow hers to soften and flavors to meld.

from Bonnie, Holden's Landing

November Giveaway: Food!

It's that time of year again ... holiday time! Thanksgiving, Christmas, Yule, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa ... and they all come with an abundance of foods.  What is your favorite holiday food?  Leave us a comment to be entered to win our November food-themed giveaway!

From Alfabette Zoope: 2 gorgeous batiked cloth napkins, sure to liven up any holiday meal!


From SEWsational Sarah: - A reusable sandwich wrap and a reusable snack bag


From Go with the Flo: -  11" Petite Maxi in the  "Chocoholic"colorway


and from Love Abounds: - a package of Mango Peach decaf Sip Your Bliss tea




Retail value over $40! 




To Enter:
* Leave us a comment telling us your favorite holiday food


Additional entries:
* Search "team hyena" on etsy and leave a comment with your favorite item
* Blog about, post on facebook about or tweet the giveaway and leave a link in the comments
* Fan the team on facebook and leave a comment saying you did 
* Follow the team blog and leave a comment saying you're a follower

Giveaway is open worldwide and a winner will be chosen using random.org on Friday morning, November 12th.  Good luck! 

 *Congrats to Liz - we will be contacting you for your address!

Funny Friday on Saturday!

Posted by Gillyweeds for Lilikoi Lane...enjoy!

Wordless Wednesday: Are you ready for the holidays?

from Bonnie, Holden's Landing